A variety of systems have been proposed that call for the ability to determine the location of an object within a wireless communication system. For example, in asset control, it is desirable to know the locations of objects (e.g., laptop computers, cell phones, . . . , etc.) within the confines of an office building. One technique utilized to locate objects is a power-based location technique. Such a technique relates the received signal strength (RSS) of a node to its distance. Although this technique can be very accurate in locating nodes within a communication system, power-based location techniques require a path loss model of the environment in order to perform inter-node range estimation. Thus, one has to carry out a measurement campaign to establish the relationship between the inter-node path loss and the inter-node distance, with path loss being a difference between a power a signal was received at and a power the signal was transmitted at. In the measurement campaign, the distances between many pairs of nodes have to be measured manually. When there are significant changes in the environment, the path loss model has to be re-established and thus measurement campaigns have to be carried out again. This makes any power-based location technique very cumbersome. Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for locating a node within a wireless communication system that utilizes a power-based location technique, yet does not require the distances between pairs of nodes to be measured manually.